hmm Sharp, that reminds me. We should do some shots that show what are area is like. I mean, its kinda been shown in other stuff, but next time the weather is nice we should do some shots of the camp, the approach, and also what can be seen from the path below. The camp is up on a ridgeline between two main trails, both of which are steeply inclined. This means that bikers are either killing themselves to get up the hill, or zooming down it at around 100mph. In either case, they're unlikely to notice us in our camo/earth-tone cloths; they also don't have a direct line of sight. Walkers might hear us, but most of them are 40-something women out for a powerwalk with the girlfriends, so they're always talking loudly and completely unaware of their surrounding. I'm confident that even if someone found us, we could show them that we never litter (a rare virtue) and never cut anything larger than a 1" branch from a living tree. That shelter that we built was entirely out of dead wood. The knives we carry are also legal in Oregon because they're not dirks or daggers, and they're not concealed. Also, both our families have full knowledge of what we're doing, so it we're not worried about the "i'll have to inform your parents" ploy.

In general, I'm also confident we could get away with practicing fire-starting. So long as we don't get larger than the tinder stage, and take precautions to clear the area first, I don't think the smoke would be visible.